


Nabi

by vampirevessel



Series: Sins and Virtues [1]
Category: NCT (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band), VICTON (Band), VIXX, iKON (Korea Band), multifandomTM
Genre: Abuse, Aggression, Aggressive Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bathing/Washing, Blood and Violence, Comfort/Angst, Drug Abuse, Drug Dealing, Drug Use, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Feeding, Gaslighting, He's evil, Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, I mean it, LOTS AND LOTS OF VIOLENCE, M/M, Manipulation, Manipulative Relationship, No Romance, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Physical Abuse, Victim Blaming, Violence, Whump, but I love him, graphic description of violence, really just jihoon beating up people, that's the only source of comfort, the little bean, wrath - Freeform, yes - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-12 08:00:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29631516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vampirevessel/pseuds/vampirevessel
Summary: Jihoon left his room to take a smoke on his balcony, thinking about what he should do with the unconscious kid. He doubted that it was necessary to tie them to a chair so they wouldn't run away. Jihoon would just tell them what happened if they tried, take that stupid duct tape off, and find out what the fuck they were doing in his apartment.
Relationships: Lee Jihoon | Woozi/Original Character(s), mentioned Jung Taekwoon | Leo/Kim Wonshik | Ravi
Series: Sins and Virtues [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2177202
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [decay_as_a_life_form](https://archiveofourown.org/users/decay_as_a_life_form/gifts).



> Hyung reminded me of this thing I started in April 2020 and in a matter of two weeks a 600 words idea turned into a (still unfinished) 8k word piece I am way too passionate about.
> 
> 나비 ("nabi'") is the Korean word for butterfly, but is also used for unidentified cats.
> 
> Hanse and his shop were consensually borrowed from Hyung, combining two great works in one universe.

Jihoon hated how much his job affected his mood even in his free time. After he was done for the day, terribly annoyed by his stupid customers and even more stupid coworkers, all he wanted to do was get his stuff, drive to the gym and punch the hell out of a punching bag. (He would use just anything, really, but the punching bag was the only thing he wouldn't get kicked out for. He had done that mistake before.)

He opened the door to his flat and heard a noise that definitely shouldn't be there. It sounded like glass, as if someone had dropped something, but nobody except him should be here and all windows and doors were closed, so it couldn't have been the wind either.  
He passed the short hall and entered his bedroom. Jihoon would have expected anything, but a lanky person with a mask breaking into his tiny flat through his bedroom window was not on the list.

"The fuck do you think you're doing?" Jihoon asked, definitely not less annoyed now that this bastard had broken his fucking window, the pieces all over his soft carpet.  
The intruder pulled out a knife and Jihoon scoffed at the poor attempt of scaring him off.

"Listen, bastard. I had a really bad day, so I would think twice before I do anything stupid." He approached the kid who, as expected, just took a step back before fear rose in their eyes when they noticed they were already backing against the wall. The kid randomly stabbed the air between them multiple times and Jihoon wasn't sure if the idiot was somehow trying to scare him off or just really fucking blind.  
No matter which case was true, Jihoon quickly grabbed the burglar’s arm and held it far away from both their bodies, the other hand grabbed their collar and pinned them to the bed in a quick motion. Jihoon pressed the arm down against the elbow's angle until the burglar dropped his weapon. 

"You had already lost this with your stupid knife, now what are you gonna do without it, huh?"  
If he hadn't had such a bad day, Jihoon might have felt bad for the kid and just let them go. They probably weren’t even an adult yet, seventeen maybe, and clearly terrified.

But his day had been hell on earth and Jihoon needed something (or someone) to blow off some steam, so he straddled the kid’s hips on his bed, let go of their arm and punched them in the face. And again, and again, and again. 

After a few punches the teen was shaking, sobbing, but didn’t let out the cry Jihoon wanted to hear. Their lack of response annoyed him even more, so the next punch came rather quickly. More punches met the kid’s cheeks, jaw, nose until at some point, even Jihoon was panting - but the intruder hadn't made a sound. He pulled off the kid’s mask and almost fell from his bed when he saw their face.  
Their mouth was covered by several layers of duct tape, going all over their mouth and cheeks, almost reaching their ears. In between the obviously new ones Jihoon had given them, some cuts and bruises were so old, so far into the healing process that they couldn't possibly have been Jihoon's fault.

He left the room to take a smoke on his balcony, thinking about what he should do with the unconscious kid. He doubted that it was necessary to tie them to a chair so they wouldn't run away. Jihoon would just tell them what happened if they tried, take that stupid duct tape off, and find out what the fuck they were doing in his apartment.

He watched one of his neighbors leave the alley next to their block and wondered when someone was going to call the police on that guy. Most people must already know what he did for a living, so they either didn't care, or were much more accepting than Jihoon had given them credit for. Not that this kind of "profession" was anything special in this area. Most people just kept it a little more private. He threw his cigarette down the balcony and went back inside. A message from one of his coworkers appeared on the screen of his phone, and if he hadn't beaten the shit out of the kid before, Jihoon was sure his phone would've joined his cigarette just now.

He sat down on his desk and watched the kid on his bed, unable to think of just one plausible theory for their presence. The whole block was old and abandoned, nobody here was in possession of anything worth more than a bag of weed, and it didn't seem personal either, seeing as Jihoon had no idea who the fuck that person was.

He sent a message to Taekwoon telling him he wouldn't come to the gym today and hopped off his desk. 

The kid’s nose and the wounds on their jaw, brow and cheekbone had stopped bleeding, and Jihoon was almost amused by how unlucky the kid was, breaking into his flat the one day Jihoon decided to wear rings to work. He wiped some of the wet hair out of their face and eyed the wound on his brow, surrounded by a purple bruise. He ripped the tape off their mouth in one go, and the kid cried out in a mix of shock and pain, wide awake in a matter of seconds. They just stared at Jihoon, huge eyes filled with fear and panic.

"Calm down," Jihoon said and inspected his victim’s face and wounds a little closer. They whimpered when Jihoon's fingers met their skin. There was a scar in the middle of their bottom lip that reminded Jihoon a lot of a piercing, and another one down the right side of their cheek. Those wounds were completely healed so it must've been a while since they got them. 

"Are you gonna tell me why you're here?" he asked and played with the rings on his fingers. The kid was thinking so hard, Jihoon could basically hear them trying to figure out what would be the better, less painful option to choose. They looked up carefully through their bangs and shook their head.

Jihoon took a look at his phone.   
"Listen, kid. I have to go meet someone, and when I come back, you better not have moved an inch," he said and typed a message before putting the phone back in his pocket.

"The door isn't locked, but if you walk out there, climb out of this window, or dare to even fucking think about breaking another one, I will know it. And kid, you don't want to see me get angry. I won't kill you, don't worry. But that doesn't mean I won't make you suffer. So how about you use the time alone to find your voice and tell me what you're doing here? Maybe I will get you a little treat. Understand?"

The kid nodded and Jihoon turned on his TV.  
"Don't want you to think I'm a bad host. I will see you later." Jihoon took the gun out of his drawer and picked up the knife from the floor.  
"Oh, and we don't want you to do anything stupid, do we?"

Jihoon left the flat and locked his door. He couldn't tell for sure if the kid would try to run away or not, but he wasn't actually worried about it. He wouldn't be surprised if he had given the kid a concussion, so climbing didn't seem like an option, if they even made it out of bed.  
He left the building and looked up to the broken window of his flat. After standing there for a minute without seeing the kid, he walked around the corner to meet BI. They had known each other for a long time now, but BI had never told him his actual name. Jihoon could've found out in a day but figured it'd be best not to know.

"I'm back," Jihoon said as he entered his flat and went straight into his bedroom. The kid had fallen asleep - or unconscious - on his bed again. He took off his jacket and stored the new pills in his bathroom drawer, grabbed his first aid kit and walked back to the kid on his bed.  
It was a strange scene. Jihoon didn't let anybody into his life, let alone his flat (not that anybody wanted to go there), and now there was this person sleeping on his bed.  
He started picking up the bigger glass pieces and put them in his trash can, then he opened his window and threw the carpet out. The color was terrible anyway. Jihoon sat down next to the kid and watched the news.

There was a quiet whimper next to him, barely audible over the sound of the TV. Jihoon looked at the kid, their whole body was shaking and they were sweating, eyes moving rapidly beneath their lids. Mumbled words were spilling out of their mouth and Jihoon wasn't sure if they were non-Korean or completely made up.  
Jihoon shook their shoulder and the kid whined. He couldn't understand a word of what they were saying and it was starting to get on his nerves, so Jihoon grabbed their injured jaw and the kid woke up with a pained gasp.

"Good." He muted the TV and got up from his bed.  
"Are you gonna talk now?" The kid shook their head slowly and Jihoon sighed. He thought the kid had a better judgement of what would happen if they didn't cooperate.  
"You are aware that nobody cares what I'm going to do with you, right? I could fucking shoot you and nobody would ever know. I could cut your throat - nobody would care. I could break every single bone in your pathetic body, but guess what? Nobody would give a fuck." He spit on the kid's face and earned another pathetic whimper.

"What's your name?" The kid curled up on the bed and hid their face with their arm. Jihoon took a mental note to check if they had gotten their tongue cut off. He wouldn't be surprised.  
"I will call you Nabi. That's your name for now, and you will react when I call you that. Understand, Nabi?" The kid looked at Jihoon and nodded. At least he could do that.  
"Good. And you're sure you don't want to tell me why you're here, Nabi?" Their scarred lips started trembling as they shook their head. The whole situation just didn’t make any sense.

Jihoon opened the first aid kit on his desk and soaked a pad in IPA.  
“Let’s clean you up,” he said and pulled his chair out.  
“Sit there.” The kid sat up and closed their eyes in distress. Jihoon helped them shift from the bed to the chair. He started cleaning their wounds and they sat through it without a word. A whimper left their dry lips every once in a while but except for that, and the occasional yelling from outside, it was quiet. Jihoon put bandaids on the bigger wounds his rings had caused and put an ointment on the bruises.

“I assume you aren’t going to tell me who did this to you, either?” Jihoon asked and the kid looked down at their hands. At first Jihoon had thought they just bit his nails, nothing special, but at a second glance he noticed their nails weren’t there at all. Their fingers weren’t bleeding anymore but the nails hadn’t started growing back either.  
“You’re a mysterious one,” he chuckled, wondering if whoever did this to them was looking for the kid right now. If someone had sent them here, Jihoon would have to sleep with both eyes open. If they had just sent them somewhere, or even lost them, he had no idea why the kid wouldn’t just run away.   
He went to the kitchen and filled one of his empty bottles with water.

“Drink,” he said and put the bottle on his desk. Jihoon watched the kid drink, slow and carefully, until they put the half empty bottle back on the desk. The kid bowed their head and yawned quietly.

“Do you want to lay down again, Nabi?” Jihoon asked, and the kid nodded hesitantly. Picking them up was just as easy as he had expected. The kid was a little taller than him but looked like the last time they had eaten a proper meal was months ago.  
“Sleep. I will make you something to eat.”

Jihoon sighed dramatically when he saw the blood on his blanket. He'd have to change that tomorrow. The only people who lived in this area were junkies, whores, and broke college students with trauma issues; often a combination of at least two of those, so ever since Jihoon had moved in, he had focused on keeping his flat as clean as possible.  
He entered his kitchen to make instant ramen for himself and the kid. Nabi. It was the first name that had come to his mind and it fit surprisingly well. After adding two eggs to the ramen he took the pot off the stove and sighed when he opened his cupboard. Maybe he should consider buying a bowl or two. Jihoon checked on the kid again before leaving the building.

“I was just about to close,” the owner of the little shop said and Jihoon checked his watch.  
“It's 7:54,” he said grumpily and grabbed a few packs of shrimp ramyeon, two pairs of chopsticks and a pack of cigarettes.  
“It's 8:02 but fine.”

Jihoon put his stuff on the conveyor belt and looked around.  
“Do you sell bowls?” Hanse raised his brow in amusement.  
“You can answer that question yourself,” the cashier said and started scanning the items. Jihoon rolled his eyes.  
“You sell ramyeon but no bowls, seriously?”  
“I don't sell kettles either, do I?”  
Jihoon paid, took his stuff and left the shop without a word. As soon as he got out he changed the time on his watch to 8:03PM and lit a cigarette. 

The window to his room was still dark so he figured Nabi hadn't woken up from their nap yet. Jihoon jogged upstairs and unlocked his door. The fact that Hanse couldn't sell him a single bowl still pissed him off, but at least he had gotten new chopsticks.   
He put the ramen packs in his cupboard and brought the pot and chopsticks into his room. Back in his room with their meal, he pushed some of the papers aside and placed the still-hot pot on his desk. There was a faint breath on his neck and Jihoon sighed as he put down the chopsticks. He turned around quickly and hit the person behind him with his elbow. Jihoon switched on the light and shook his head when he saw Nabi lying on the floor with one of the glass pieces he had thrown away.

“I can't believe it,” he said and put his foot on the kid's knee.  
“I thought you would be more grateful than this.”  
Tears started running down Nabi's bruised face but Jihoon felt no pity for the kid. They had brought this to themselves.

“You know what's gonna happen if I kick there, yeah?” Nabi sobbed and tried to pull their leg away, but Jihoon was faster. He punched his heel on the kid’s knee cap and watched them cry. Nabi started mumbling inaudible syllables again and Jihoon started to think the kid just didn't know Korean. This would explain why they hadn't responded to his questions, but not why they seemed to understand most of what Jihoon said.

“You do know Korean, right?” Nabi nodded quickly.  
“Good. Then I would recommend you to either answer my fucking questions, or just do as I say. I won't let you go before I know why you’re here.”   
He picked Nabi up again and pulled them back on his bed. They whined when their leg was moved and Jihoon rolled his eyes.  
“This is your own fault. I trusted you but if you want to be a little rebel, I'll have to make sure you don't do anything stupid - again.”

Jihoon sat down on his chair and held some of the noodles in front of Nabi's mouth.  
“I made these for you, you know.” The kid’s eyes widened and their mouth fell open, but Jihoon shook his head.  
“Fuck no, I don't think so. You can't threaten me and then still think I'm gonna share my food with you. Maybe you'll get something tomorrow.” Jihoon started eating and Nabi's eyes never left his hand with the chopsticks.

“Are you sorry?” he asked with his mouth half full and Nabi nodded.  
“Well, it doesn't look like it.” 

Jihoon took the half empty pot back into the kitchen and sat down next to the kid, a tight grip on their hair.   
“Listen, I have to leave for work tomorrow at eight. My workplace is a fucking shit hole, and nine times out of ten I am in a really bad mood when I get home. So how about tomorrow you try not to do anything stupid and I will make you dinner. Is that a deal, Nabi?" He patted the kid's head as they nodded with their eyes closed.  
“Good.” 

Jihoon responded to a few messages and put the phone on his desk. He got on the floor to finish his daily half-assed workout of some push-ups, sit-ups and whatever other exercises he could think of in the moment.  
"I'll be right back." Jihoon went to his bathroom and started the shower. He hadn't noticed how tense he was until the warm water helped him to relax. His shampoo bottle was almost empty, just enough to wash his hair with it one or two more times. Dark strands collected on the floor of his shower.  
He got out and dried himself off before changing into a pair of sweatpants.

Back in his room, Nabi stared at his half-naked body with a hint of terror in their eyes.   
“You know why I have to do this, right?” Jihoon asked as he pulled a pack of zip strings out of a drawer. The kid's eyes widened in shock. Apparently they knew those things very well. Jihoon took their wrists, a deep scar going around both sides like a bracelet. He pulled the strings tight and went to turn off the light before crawling into bed with the kid.  
“Rest, Nabi. You'll need it.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon causes some stress at work and takes care of Nabi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> Again, it's a bit weird to say this for that kind of story, but anyway - I hope you enjoy reading. :)

Jihoon woke to his alarm at seven, just as always. He sat up to stretch his arms and pulled out his knife as soon as he noticed someone in the bed next to him. He turned on the little lamp on his nightstand and sighed when he saw whose neck the knife was pointed at. Right.   
Jihoon got up, grabbed his jacket and went out on the balcony. He was definitely too old for this shit. 

He lit a cigarette and enjoyed the fresh air outside.   
Five to seven in the morning was the only time it was truly quiet in his block. Whores asleep, junkies unconscious, students contemplating suicide as they went to college. Jihoon was glad he wasn’t a part of them anymore. He watched them with pity, waking up early in their cheap, mildewed flats every morning to rot away in school just so daddy would finally be proud of them. It was pathetic. He eyed the dead flowers hanging at the railing of his balcony and pressed his cigarette into the soil. 

Back inside he warmed up yesterday’s leftovers and put them in a bento box for work. Maybe next time he should get some plastic bowls. He used to have the same amount of bowls and bento boxes, but a while ago his last bowl had found its way into the trash can after being thrown through the kitchen and he didn’t bother buying new ones.

Jihoon entered his bedroom to see Nabi still asleep on the dirty sheets. He cut off the zip ties and changed into his “work clothes”. A pair of black pants and his coat over a t-shirt were pretty much his everyday clothes. He was still wearing the rings from the day before and decided to keep them on a bit longer. Just in case Nabi decided to act up again. Jihoon took his water glass from the nightstand and spilled it on the kid.

“Good, you’re up,” he said sarcastically while his captive tried to come down from the shock.  
“Here’s the remote, and there’s some books, in case you get bored.” He pointed at a shelf on the other side of the room. The kid could surely get there, even with an injured knee - if they wanted. Jihoon patted the kid’s greasy hair and smiled.

"I’ll see you later. Don't do anything you'll regret."   
Jihoon left his flat and locked the door. He drove to work feeling surprisingly calm. Usually he would get pissed as soon as he entered his car, if not earlier. Maybe having someone waiting at his place who took whatever Jihoon gave him, be it food or a beating, was what made him feel calmer than usual. He didn't have to drive to the gym and watch teens train their arms and abs for an hour just to go eat junk food afterwards - he could skip all that now.

His office was on the fifth floor and Jihoon decided to take the elevator for a change. 

"Hello, uh, good morning! My name is Kim Mingyu. Are you new here, too?" A tall man next to him asked and Jihoon instantly regretted having taken the elevator.  
"No."  
"Oh, okay. Maybe you could show me around?"  
"I'm really busy."  
"Ah, that's a shame. It's my first day so I don't really know what to do. They didn't tell me much."

The door opened on the third floor and Jihoon stepped outside with the newbie.  
"Wonwoo could show you around," he said and nodded towards the guy standing at the coffee machine. He wasn't sure if his name was actually Wonwoo, but he didn't care, either.   
Mingyu bowed to him and left to go get on Wonwoo's nerves while Jihoon walked the rest of the stairs. 

The desk he worked on was located in one of the corners of the room, the only thing at this place Jihoon was somewhat grateful for. Like this, he only had one person in front of him and one person to his right, instead of being surrounded by idiots in the most literal sense. 

There were a few new pages on his desk, and a note pinned to his screen. He read over them quickly and tossed them aside to go back to his unfinished work from the day before. Jihoon put a bunch of values into different formulas and checked them off. He wasn't quite sure what he was doing, what the data was supposed to tell him, but he didn't care. His job paid what he needed for rant, gas and food, and he wouldn't change anything about that. 

Approximately one and a half out of eight working hours, Jihoon spent on a smoking break. As soon as his desktop turned dark Jihoon took his jacket and walked downstairs, out of the building. 

The guy from the coffee machine joined him outside just a few minutes later.   
“Why?”  
Jihoon raised a questioning brow.  
“Why what?”  
“Why did you tell that annoying kid I'd show him around?”  
“I was busy, you were getting coffee.”  
Wonwoo closed his eyes for a second and rubbed his temples.  
“I was getting coffee, because other than you, I do actually work here. You just sit at your computer and do what? Watch porn? Cat videos? Little kids falling on their face?”  
Jihoon looked at his coworker with empty eyes and smoked his cigarette.

"You know, I honestly don't care what you do, why you even work here- I don't care. But don't pull me into your emo trip."  
Jihoon sighed and held his cigarette in his coworker’s face.  
“Listen. I didn’t tell you to work here. If you really think kissing the boss’s ass will get you anywhere in this shithole, keep doing that. But don’t get on my nerves because of a stupid choice you made.” 

Wonwoo shook his head in disbelief and pulled out a pack of cigarettes out of his right pocket. He put one between his lips and checked his left pocket. Right pocket. Inside pocket. Jihoon watched him with an amused grin on his face and let his own cigarette drop to the floor before making his way back to the door.

“Jihoon,” Wonwoo called, and the man turned around, threw a lighter towards his coworker and entered the building. Wonwoo caught it and lit his cigarette. 

It was a zippo lighter, exactly what Wonwoo thought the other man would use. He felt like Jihoon probably didn’t care about the look or quality of most things he used, lighters and cigarettes being an exception. He gave the lighter a closer look and turned it around, just to see “I like to burn things” written on it with a black pen.  
Such a child, he thought and took out his phone before he could start philosophizing about why a guy like Jihoon, who clearly made no effort on getting promoted or even keeping the job, worked here at all.

This time, Jihoon walked the stairs to the fifth floor. A few people passed by but none bothered to talk to, or even look at him - just the way it should be. He sat down at his desk and went back to work, even though a part of him felt the urge to watch cat videos, just to annoy Wonwoo when he brought the lighter back. He kept typing in numbers and letters that barely made any sense to him until Wonwoo appeared next to him.

“Thanks,” he said and put the lighter on Jihoon's desk.  
"I hope you know this was an exception because I'm pitying you," Jihoon said while typing in more and more values. Wonwoo's soft smile dropped.  
"Go to hell, honestly." He left the desk and Jihoon shook his head in amusement. "Go to hell", as if they weren't already there.

Jihoon decided to go home earlier, leaving behind even more work than the day before. The road was unusually free so he got home a lot faster than expected. He unlocked the door to his apartment and took off his jacket.

"Nabi," he sang, wondering what the little intruder had spent his time with. A part of him hoped that the kid had fucked up, just so he had a valid reason to beat the fuck out of him - not that he actually needed one. 

"What are you doing down there?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer, as well as the fact that he wouldn't get one. He picked the kid up from the floor in front of the book shelf and carried them back to his bed. The kid was sweating; their hair was shining and they smelled like the gym’s changing rooms at the end of the day.

"Fuck, you're disgusting," Jihoon said and opened the curtains as well as the non-broken window.  
"When was the last time you took a shower?" Nabi shrugged and Jihoon shook his head in disappointment.  
"You've got nothing to tell me, I assume?" The kid shrunk into themselves - big, sorry eyes never leaving Jihoon.

"Why not? You have a tongue, don't you? Show me!"  
Nabi opened their mouth obediently and showed their tongue to Jihoon.  
"Good. Now answer my fucking questions. Why are you here?" Jihoon put one knee on the mattress and grabbed Nabi's jaw. The kid hissed in pain when Jihoon's thumb pressed on the bruise. He pressed harder, waiting for the kid to say a word, but after a good minute or two of them staring at each other, Jihoon let go of Nabi's face and punched one of his walls.

He sat down on his chair, lit a cigarette and stared at the floor in front of him. Nobody dared to disobey him, especially not multiple times in just 24 hours. Jihoon was getting sick of the disrespect he received from this little prick. The kid tried to hide under Jihoon's bloody blanket but Jihoon had different plans.

"Get out," he said harshly and pulled the blanket off the bed. Nabi looked at him pleadingly, his upper body pushed up by his elbows. Jihoon grabbed them by the neck and threw the kid to the floor. Nabi started sobbing when their injured knee hit the hard ground.

"Speak." Jihoon stepped in front of him, the tips of his shoes right at the tips of Nabi's injured fingers. They went back to mumbling words Jihoon couldn't understand, hands folded.

And finally Jihoon understood what was going on; the boy was praying in Latin. Jihoon just laughed.

"No god will save you," he said calmly and knelt down next to the kid.  
"Only I get to choose what happens to you. Do you understand me? I make the rules here; I am the boss."

Nabi continued crying silently on the floor and Jihoon sat down on his desk, watching the pathetic scene. He pulled a joint out of his drawer and started smoking, eyes locked on the kid. Jihoon could get used to this. Nabi radiated nothing but fear, which boosted Jihoon's ego even more.

"Get up," he said calmly and pressed the joint into an ashtray. He pulled Nabi up by their arm and the kid whimpered while trying their best to get on their uninjured leg.  
Once they stood, Jihoon put Nabi's arm around his shoulder and dragged them into the bathroom.

"Take those clothes off", he ordered and started filling the tub with cold water. Nabi took off their shirt and held it in front of their body to cover themselves up. Jihoon grumbled.  
"All of it." They put the shirt on the floor and opened their jeans. Taking those off was much more difficult. They couldn't get up, couldn't even bend their leg properly.  
Jihoon stared at him with impatient, judgmental eyes. He was annoyed by the time it took the kid to get at least one leg out of their pants, but it gave him time to inspect their body a little.

Thin, greasy hair, cut unevenly so their tired eyes were exposed, and cut just as unevenly in the back, below their chin, almost at the shoulders. Jihoon's wounds stuck out immediately, bandaids on Nabi's temple, cheekbone, nose, and jaw. The bruise around their eye was starting to get even darker, the purple closer to that of a plum than lilac.  
Jihoon liked the wounds he had inflicted. They were beautiful, they were prominent, and they were his. The scar on their lip, however, bothered him.

"You can't do anything alone, can you?" He asked, and Nabi's head dropped. Jihoon pulled his knife from his belt and started cutting the left leg open at the cuffs. The kid twitched when the knife cut into their skin.

"Stop moving and you won't get hurt." Jihoon put the knife away and ripped the leg of Nabi's pants open. The now exposed knee was bruised and swollen, and the kid whimpered when Jihoon touched it.   
"You poor thing," he said with a pitying voice and resisted the urge to hit the injured knee, just for the fun of it. Instead, he stopped the water and got up from the floor. 

“Take those off, too,” he said, gesturing to the underwear the kid was wearing. He didn’t even want to start thinking about how long they had been wearing those. Nabi took them off and put them to the shirt they had been wearing. Jihoon helped them inside the tub and the kid shivered.

“I’m not going to waste my warm water on you,” Jihoon said, and went to throw the dirty clothes in the bin in his kitchen. Spending water on the kid was bad enough, wasting water on those contaminated clothes would never happen. 

Nabi pulled their right knee up to their chest and leaned their chin on it.  
There were more scars on their back, bigger and smaller ones, but no wounds as new as the ones on their face.

“Lean back,” Jihoon said and knelt down next to the tub, “I’ll wash your hair.” While doing so, his shampoo now empty, the bandaid on Nabi’s temple was washed off their face, exposing the worst of the four open wounds Jihoon had caused.  
Jihoon added shampoo to his hair and started massaging Nabi’s head. The kid sighed and radiated a sense of comfort Jihoon wasn’t familiar with. Foam got into Nabi’s eyes and they blinked rapidly, trying to get it out. Jihoon kept washing their hair.

“Don’t think I give a shit about you just because I’m washing you. I don’t allow dirty things in my apartment. That’s it.” Nabi nodded and Jihoon decided he enjoyed them keeping their mouth shut.

He rinsed the shampoo out of their hair and let the kid fall back into the water. They gasped and tried to grab the edge of the tub but slipped. Jihoon pulled them up at their hair until they were sitting properly again. Had he noticed when the kid had fully leaned their head into Jihoon's hands? Maybe. Did he care? Definitely not.

"I really need to take care of everything, huh." He gave Nabi a bottle of body wash and kept a steady hand on their back as the kid started washing themselves. Pushing the wet hair aside, Jihoon saw three lines on the kid’s neck. At a closer look he identified them as a seven, inked under their skin. A sense of anger started boiling inside him, different from the anger he was used to.

"Okay, get out." He pulled Nabi out of the tub and wrapped them in a big towel.  
"Dry yourself off," he said and moved Nabi to sit on the toilet. 

Jihoon went back to his room and started changing the sheets. Now that he had gotten the kid clean, he just had to wash anything they had contaminated with their blood, sweat and tears. Jihoon was positively surprised they hadn't thrown up yet.  
He took the dirty sheets and stuffed them in his laundry bag in his bathroom. Nabi was mostly dried off and hiding in his towel. Now that their hair was clean and almost dry, it didn't look as straight as it did before. There were soft waves forming in their hair, already giving it much more volume.

"Get up," Jihoon said and held Nabi's arm as support. The kid stood on their right leg, held Jihoons arm with his right hand and the towel with the left.  
"Drop it. Can you stand?" Nabi let the towel fall to the floor and carefully let go of Jihoon's arm.

"Good. Lift your arms." Jihoon put his biggest sweatshirt over the kid’s head and Nabi pushed their arms through the sleeves. He guided Nabi to sit down on the toilet again and helped them put on sweatpants that were a little too short.

"Okay, we're done." Nabi looked at him with big, innocent eyes and Jihoon felt the burning urge to make them cry again.

He went back to his room and sat down on his freshly changed sheets to watch some sort of underwater world documentary. Jihoon wasn't a fan of documentaries, but sometimes he'd rather watch those than the news on what was actually going on around him. He just didn't care.

He watched lions hunt their prey, chasing away hyena's coming to steal parts of their meal. His phone vibrated next to him and Jihoon lifted a brow in confusion when he saw Taekwoon's name on the screen. The man never called - one of the few reasons Jihoon accepted him in his life. He answered the call.

"What?"  
"Hey, this is Wonshik." Jihoon felt the urge to hang up immediately. Wonshik was in some sort of intimate relationship with Taekwoon he didn't give a shit about.  
"A friend of mine is throwing a party today and I thought maybe you wanna join."

There was a loud noise coming from the hallway and Jihoon got up with his phone on speaker, already aware where - or rather who - that noise came from.  
"Who?" he asked, while eyeing Nabi lying on the floor of his hallway.  
"Jaehyun. It's in that one garage close to the gym." He described how to get there, which bus to take, but Jihoon didn't really listen. Nabi tried to get up from the floor by themselves but could barely even move their arms.

"I'll think about it." He hung up without waiting for an answer, too much time wasted on that conversation already. Maybe he'd go to the party, maybe he wouldn't. A nice trip could do him well, but he didn't want to deal with Wonshik's pathetic, whipped self.

He got a banana from the kitchen and sat down next to Nabi. The kid's exhausted eyes widened at the sight of the fruit.   
"Eat." Jihoon pulled Nabi's head up on his lap and started feeding them little pieces of the banana. It wasn't that he cared about if the kid was nurtured or not, he just didn't want to keep looking at this pathetic excuse of a human being.

Taekwoon (or Wonshik, whoever was using the older's phone) had sent him the time and address for the party and Jihoon decided to go. A little fun couldn't hurt. For a short moment he thought about bringing Nabi with him, dragging them around like a dog on a leash, but he didn't want to keep an eye on them the whole time, so he got the little plastic bag he had bought from BI and sat down next to the kid watching TV on his bed.

"I'll be gone for a while. This will keep you busy." He gave them a pink pill and a glass of water. Nabi eyed the little teddy bear in their hand and swallowed it with a big gulp of water. Jihoon patted their head.

"I won't tie you up this time. You wouldn't try running away, would you?" Nabi shook their head and Jihoon gave them a nice smile.  
"Good. See you later, Nabi."

**Author's Note:**

> I know this probably doesn't seem to have much of a plot but it has a deeper meaning, kind of, so please tell me what you think! <3


End file.
